PEORIA, IL – More than 3,000 caregivers at 84 residential nursing care facilities across three Midwestern states must be paid $2,939,576 in back overtime wages by the locations’ Illinois-based management company to resolve violations found in a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division found Petersen Health Care Inc. of Peoria failed to pay the correct overtime because the employer wrongly assumed the affected workers were not entitled to overtime pay. They failed to pay wages for meal periods of less than 20 minutes, did not add bonuses and other incentive pay to workers’ hourly rate when calculating overtime pay, and failed to maintain accurate records of work hours. Their actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

“While residential healthcare workers at Petersen Health Care Inc. provided around-the-clock, daily living assistance and delivered essential care to people in need, they were subject to pay practices that underreported their hours of work and denied them the pay they were legally due.” said Wage and Hour Division Acting Administrator Jessica Looman. “The U.S. Department of Labor will ensure that workers who commit themselves to caring for others will receive the wages they earned so they can also take care of themselves and their families.”

In addition to agreeing to pay the overtime back wages, the company’s primary owner and CEO Mark Petersen signed an enhanced compliance agreement with the department to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act in the future.

From 2019 to 2021, Wage and Hour Division investigations recovered more than $22.7 million for Midwest healthcare workers as a result of violations of worker protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In March 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the 682,000 healthcare and social services workers left their positions and the field had more than 2 million openings. As the aging U.S. population grows and demand for home healthcare services increases, employment in a variety of healthcare sectors is projected to grow 16 percent from 2020 to 2030 – faster than the average for all occupations – adding about 2.6 million new jobs.

“As healthcare industry employers struggle to retain and recruit workers to provide the services necessary for their businesses to succeed, failing to respect workers’ rights and pay workers their full wages means that these essential workers will look elsewhere for employment,” Looman added.

Petersen Health Care Inc. manages skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and rehabilitation facilities across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri. The division has found the company systematically violated wage and hour laws on numerous occasions in as many as 30 investigations in the last two decades. In 2009, a consent judgment was executed ordering Petersen to pay $42,000 and to comply with the FLSA. In the last six years, the division found back wages of $88,000 due in seven investigations that incorporated findings at several other locations.     

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.

Employer:                              Open Heart Senior Home Care LLC

Investigation site:                  615 Market St.

Port Gibson, MS 39150

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found the employer paid straight-time rates to employees for hours over 40 in a workweek, and failed to pay the extra half-time rate as the Fair Labor Standards Act requires. The employer coded these hours under different categories such as training and employee appreciation.

Back Wages Recovered:       $39,410 in back wages for 28 workers.                                       

Quote: “The healthcare industry is expanding quickly as the demand for services from an aging population grows. Unfortunately, we find wage violations all-too-commonly when industry employers shortchange workers’ wages,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Audrey Hall in Jackson, Mississippi. “Workers denied the full wages then must work harder to support themselves and their families. The Department of Labor exists to hold employers accountable when they fail to meet their obligations.”

“In a growing economy and industry, employers who fail to pay rightful wages to workers may find it more difficult to retain and recruit the people they need to do the jobs necessary to help their businesses succeed,” Hall added. “We encourage employers to contact the Wage and Hour Division to avoid compliance issues.”

Background: Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. The division also offers numerous online resources for employers, such as a fact sheet on Fair Labor Standards Act wage laws overtime requirements. Workers who feel they may not be getting the wages they earned may contact a Wage and Hour Division representative in their state through a list and interactive online map on the agency’s website.

Learn more about Wage and Hour Division.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has renewed a multi-year nationwide initiative to help workers and increase federal compliance by food service employers, an industry where – in fiscal year 2021 – the department’s Wage and Hour Division found violations in nearly 85 percent of its restaurant investigations.

These investigations led the division to recover more than $34.7 million in back wages for more than 29,000 workers and to assess employers with $3.2 million in penalties.

The food service workers initiative combines enforcement with outreach and education to raise awareness of the types of pay practices and other actions by employers that most commonly violate the Fair Labor Standards Act and other federal labor laws. These violations include those related to the federal minimum wage, overtime pay, tips, employing child labor, and making illegal wage deductions. The effort will encourage employers and workers to learn more about the protections and assistance the Wage and Hour Division offers.

“Food service industry workers are among our nation’s lowest paid essential workers and they depend on every dollar they earn to help provide for themselves and their families,” explained Wage and Hour Division Acting Administrator Jessica Looman. “Wage and Hour Division investigations find far too many employers are denying employees their rightful wages or violating other legal protections, making it much more difficult for these workers to make ends meet.

The department recently published new resources addressing retaliation against employees who assert their workplace rights or cooperate with investigations by the Wage and Hour Division. Retaliation by employers often prevents these vulnerable workers from exercising their workplace rights under the FLSA, which ensures they are paid the wages they are owed.

“Our initiative will also focus on combatting retaliation by employers against workers who report violations, or who cooperate with federal investigations, a troubling aspect of some of our investigations,” Looman added.

The division’s Essential Workers, Essential Protections initiative provides resources and information for essential workers. It also offers resources for employers to help them avoid the costly consequences of non-compliance with federal laws governed by the division.

Workers and employers can call the division confidentially with questions. The department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, and its search tool if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.

Lea en Español.

DALLAS ─ The U.S. Department of Labor will hold an online listening session for Southwest employees and their stakeholders on May 25, 2022, on possible revisions to the regulations that enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime exemptions for executive, administrative and professional employees.

Since 1938, federal overtime regulations have been a cornerstone of the laws the department’s Wage and Hour Division enforces. These regulations protect workers and benefit workers and their families, their employers and the community at-large. The FLSA requires employers to pay most U.S. employees at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked, and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half the regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. 

 The law, however, provides an exemption from minimum wage and overtime pay for workers employed as “bona fide” executive, administrative or professional employees. In general, to be exempt, employees must meet certain tests regarding their job duties and be paid on a salary basis at not less than $684 per week.

“Our goal is to use these sessions to listen, engage workers and hear their perspectives on the possible impact of changes to the regulations,” explained Acting Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman. “As we consider the needs of today’s workforce and industry demands, we need public input to ensure that revisions to the overtime regulations fulfill the original intent and promise of the law.”

In fiscal year 2021, the department’s Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $138 million in overtime back wages for more than 145,000 workers. In its FLSA investigations, the division found overtime back wages represented 80 percent of all back wages found due.

The division announced that it will hold a listening session for workers, employee stakeholders and union representatives as follows:

WHO:                         Employees, Employee advocates and union representatives

WHEN:                      Wednesday, May 25, 2022

                                     6 - 7 p.m. CDT

WHERE:                    Register for the listening session.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor will offer online compliance seminars for contracting agencies, contractors, unions, workers and other stakeholders to provide information on the requirements governing payment of prevailing wages on federally funded construction and service contracts.

Offered by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, the seminars are part of the division’s ongoing effort to increase awareness and improve compliance with federal prevailing wage requirements.

The seminars will include on-demand video training on many Davis-Bacon and Related Acts and McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act topics. In addition, online Question & Answer sessions on DBRA and SCA compliance will be offered live in June and September.

Davis-Bacon Act compliance Q&As are scheduled on June 14 and Sept. 13, and Service Contract Act compliance Q&As are scheduled on June 15 and Sept. 14, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. EDT.

“As the Biden-Harris administration continues to make unprecedented investments in the nation’s infrastructure, the Wage and Hour Division wants to ensure employers on federally funded projects comply with all regulations,” said Acting Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman. “Our online compliance seminars offer excellent opportunities for contractors, workers and contracting agencies to avoid compliance issues, and help us ensure that good jobs are being created with the extensive improvements of our nation’s infrastructure.”

While seminar attendance is free, registration is required. Register to attend the Prevailing Wage seminar.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division.

Employer name:                     Morales Plumbing LLC

Investigation site:                  Meadows at Nicholson Family Apartments

                                                         11777 Nicholson Drive

                                                         Baton Rouge, LA 70810

Findings: The U.S. Department of Labor has debarred Morales Plumbing LLC from future government contracts after the department’s Wage and Hour Division found egregious violations of the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts. Investigators found Morales Plumbing of Geismar failed to pay prevailing wage rates, fringe benefits and all hours worked as required. The employer paid some plumbers a daily flat rate without regard to the number of hours worked and with no additional fringe benefits for work and failed to keep accurate payroll records. Morales Plumbing LLC was employed as a contractor on a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development project in Baton Rouge.

Back wages recovered:         $32,835 for three plumbers and one laborer.

Quote: “Our investigation found substantial prevailing wage and fringe benefit violations by Morales Plumbing LLC,” said Wage and Hour District Director Troy Mouton in New Orleans. “The U.S. Department of Labor takes aggravated or willful violations of the laws it enforces very seriously. Due to the nature and severity of the violations found, this employer has lost the opportunity to participate in government contracting for at least three years.”

SAN FRANCISCO – Migrant workers in the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program provide critical seasonal labor on farms across California, spending weeks away from home doing the grueling work needed to support the state’s $49 billion agricultural industry.

The H-2A program allows employers who anticipate a shortage of U.S.-based workers to bring workers here from other countries to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature. An ongoing U.S. Department of Labor effort has revealed some California vegetable farms have not been providing H-2A workers with the pay and benefits, and personal protections the law requires. 

In a series of investigations from April 2020 to February 2022 by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, several farms were found to be failing to meet their responsibilities under the H-2A program. The investigations found five farmers failed to provide meals or kitchen facilities, did not pay required inbound and outbound transportation and meal costs, and allowed workers to be transported unsafely. The division also determined some farms shortchanged workers’ wages and failed to provide a contract to workers as required or did not abide by the terms of workers’ contracts.

The five investigations led to the recovery of $225,114 in back wages for 588 workers, and assessments of $54,617 in penalties. They also yielded findings and administrative settlements with the following employers:

• Adam Bros Farming in Santa Maria: Failed to provide meals or kitchen facilities, transportation and meal costs. Did not provide contract at time of hire, failed to pay all required wages and unlawfully deducting meal costs, including when meals were not provided. Failed to comply with other state and federal law. The employer paid $94,146 in back wages to 30 employees, and $7,862 in penalties.         
• Boavista Farms in Santa Maria: Failed to pay required inbound and outbound transportation and meal costs. Did not provide contract at time of hire and failed to pay all required wages and comply with other state and federal law. Boavista Farms was ordered to pay $43,297 in back wages to 28 employees, and $5,361 in penalties.
• Profresco Inc. in Santa Maria: Failed to pay all required inbound and outbound transportation and meal costs, and transportation failed to meet safety requirements. Failed to satisfy requirements of the job order by not stating actual terms and conditions and failed to comply with other state and federal law as applicable. Profresco Farms paid $50,789 in back wages to 471 employees, and $7,505 in penalties.
• SARC in Nipomo: Failed to pay inbound transportation and meal costs and made improper deductions for meals and unpaid hours worked. Did not ensure health and safety standards, and prepared meals failed to meet local health standards causing some workers to become ill after consuming spoiled lunch. SARC also failed to provide personal protective equipment and supplies to workers. The employer paid $34,996 in back wages to 42 employees, and $13,160 in penalties.
• Togliatti Farms LLC in San Martin: Failed to pay for required inbound transportation and did not pay the required rate of pay. Failed to maintain required records and did not comply with pay statement requirements. Failed to contact former U.S. employees to solicit their return to the job as required and did not post H-2A information visibly for workers to see. Provided housing that failed to meet safety and health requirements. Togliatti Farms was ordered to pay $1,885 in back wages to 17 workers, and $20,729 in penalties. The employer also agreed to future compliance and paid all monetary liabilities.

“Employers that benefit from the H-2A guest worker program must be aware of all their responsibilities,” said Wage and Hour Regional Administrator Ruben Rosalez in San Francisco. “Agricultural workers employed under the H-2A program must be paid as their contracts require and be provided with what they need to live and work safely while contributing critical labor to California’s agriculture industry.”

Nationally, the Wage and Hour Division investigated 735 cases with H-2A violations in the last two fiscal years. These investigations recovered $9,092,624 in back wages for 13,408 workers and assessed $9,520,624 in civil penalties from employers for violations of federal labor laws.

For more information about farmworkers' rights and laws enforced by the division, contact its toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). The division enforces the law regardless of a worker’s immigration status and can speak confidentially with callers in more than 200 languages. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.

CHICAGO ─ The U.S. Department of Labor will hold an online listening session for Midwest workers, employers and other stakeholders on May 20, 2022, on possible revisions to the regulations that enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime exemptions for executive, administrative and professional employees.

Since 1938, federal overtime regulations have been a cornerstone of the laws the department’s Wage and Hour Division enforces. These regulations protect workers and benefit workers and their families, their employers and the community at-large. The FLSA requires employers to pay most U.S. employees at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked, and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half the regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. 

The law, however, provides an exemption from minimum wage and overtime pay for workers employed as “bona fide” executive, administrative or professional employees. In general, to be exempt, employees must meet certain tests regarding their job duties and be paid on a salary basis at not less than $684 per week.

“Our goal is to use these sessions to listen, engage the public and hear their perspectives on the possible impact of changes to the regulations,” explained Acting Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman. “In today’s competitive labor market, job quality and fair pay are critical to retaining and recruiting the people needed to keep businesses open.”

“Industry demands and the challenges employers face are an important part of any discussion on regulatory change. We want to hear from industry leaders and employers,” Looman added.

The division announced that it will hold a listening session for employers and industry stakeholders as follows:

WHO:                         Employers, employer representatives, employer associations

WHEN:                      Friday, May 20, 2022 2:30-3:30 p.m. CDT

WHERE:                    Register to attend the listening session.

Employer name:                   Pictometry International Corp., doing business as EagleView Technologies Inc., 25 Methodist Hill Drive, Rochester, N.Y. 14623

Investigation findings:          The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, Syracuse Area Office found the provider of technological services, such as aerial imagery and data analytics, classified 57 employees at its Rochester, New York, facility erroneously as administratively exempt from receiving overtime wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The company also failed to keep time records for these individuals and did not include a non-discretionary yearly bonus in calculating employees’ overtime pay rates.

Back Wages Paid:                 $319,141 to 57 employees.

Background:                          Section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA provides an exemption from both minimum wage and overtime pay for employees employed as bona fide executive, administrative, professional and outside sales employees. Section 13(a)(1) and Section 13(a)(17) also exempt certain computer employees. In order for an exemption to apply, an employee’s specific job duties and salary must meet all the requirements of the department’s regulations.

Quote:                                    “Employers must understand they are responsible to pay all employees correctly for all the hours they work; failure to do so deprives employees of the wages they've earned,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director John Steves in Syracuse. “The U.S. Department of Labor provides numerous tools to help employers comply with the law, and we encourage employers and employees alike to contact us for assistance.”

Nombre del empleador:                   Jacobs Stone Products Inc.

Lugar de investigación:                    San Saba, Texas

Hallazgos de la investigación: La División de Horas y Salarios del Departamento de Trabajo de EE. UU. descubrió que Jacobs Stone Products Inc. violaba el programa de visas H-2B al publicitar una tarifa de $19.20 por hora durante las entrevistas de contratación, y luego solo pagar $10.15 por hora a los trabajadores mientras se encontraban en EE. UU. El empleador también hizo varias deducciones ilegales del pago de los trabajadores, no reveló las ordenes de trabajo a los trabajadores H-2B, y no reembolsó a los trabajadores H-2B por el transporte y mantenimiento mientras adquirían sus visas, lo cual es requisito del programa.

Salarios atrasados recuperados:      $57,714 en salarios atrasados para 10 trabajadores

                                                            $27,528 en multas civiles impuestas al empleador

Cita: “Los empleadores dependen del programa de visas H-2B para contratar temporalmente a trabajadores que no son inmigrantes según las necesidades estacionales o carga máxima. Algunos empleadores no se toman el tiempo para comprender sus responsabilidades según la ley, lo cual puede derivar en investigaciones del Departamento de Trabajo EE. UU. y consecuencias costosas”, dijo la Directora del Distrito de la Division de Horas y Salarios, Nicole Sellers en Austin, Texas. “El departamento continuará utilizando todas sus herramientas de cumplimiento disponibles para responsabilizar a quienes se aprovechen de los trabajadores vulnerables”.

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